Meet Ranbir Kapoor’s new fitness trainer

Hyderabad’s Kunal Gir talks about training Ranbir Kapoor for his next film with Ayan Mukerji.

Ranbir Kapoor with Kunal Gir

In the last one month Hyderabad’s fitness trainer Kunal Gir has travelled 20 times to Mumbai. He’s working on a crazy schedule and managing clients, but he’s not complaining. After all, he gets to train Bollywood’s Ranbir Kapoor.

Kunal has been training celebrities from the Telugu film industry for a while now and it was through Rana Daggubati, one of his oldest clients, that he met Ranbir. “Rana and Ranbir know each other since Ranbir’s Saawariya days. So, earlier this year Rana asked if I would like to meet Ranbir because he was looking for a trainer. I said yes and then I met Ranbir and Ayan Mukerji in May and then in June,” explains Kunal.

Ranbir, who started training one month ago, is getting his physique ready for his next film, which is tentatively called Dragon (working title), and is being directed by Ayan.

“As Ranbir plays a superhero in the film, they wanted him to look the part. However, it isn’t the usual chiseled body look. Ranbir plays an orphan in the film and is meant to look rustic and macho, his frame is supposed to look like that of a gymnast and so we’re training accordingly,” he says. Since Ranbir is currently wrapping up Jagga Jasoos, Kunal says that there can’t be a drastic change in the way he looks. “Which is why we’re slowly working on different parts of the body, so by December when this film’s shoot is done, he will be ready for his next film,” he explains.

Kunal, who has many celebrity clients, says that Ranbir is easily one of his favourites. “Most of my clients come to me at the last minute, when they usually need to get into shape within a month or so. But Ranbir came to me months in advance, that’s what sets him apart. This way we have enough time to work on the body and take things slowly,” explains Kunal who says that as of now Ranbir doesn’t follow a very strict diet yet, but by December the workout session and diets will get more rigorous. Currently, Kunal trains Ranbir for at least four times a week depending on his film schedules. “Apart from being a great client, who sticks to his workout sessions, Ranbir is someone who throws no starry tantrums. He is so humble that if I didn’t already know who he was, I would never have guessed that he is a star,” he adds.

With all this travelling, Kunal is living on a very hectic schedule. Take this for instance, on Friday, he trained clients in Hyderabad from 4.30 am to 1.30 pm, then took a 3.30 pm flight to Mumbai, started training Ranbir at 6.30 pm and then continued training him again at 12.30 pm the next day. Post that, he took a flight back to Hyderabad at 3.15 pm.

So has he got more clients to train now? “Ranbir asked if I would be willing to work with a few more clients, but I want to concentrate on training him for now. Perhaps later, I might consider taking up more clients,” he says. So when does he find the time to sleep? He laughs when he says, “As of now, the only time I sleep is during my flight journeys.”